raising crayfish in aquariums

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darthodo

darthodo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2006
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Georgia
I hope you invert folks don't hate me for this but, I'd like to raise crayfish in aquariums as food for my fish. Crayfish are high in carotenoids and are very nutritious for my cichlids.

Is there a good "how to" guide for this? How big do the tanks have to be? If it is going to take up too much room and time I just may not do it. Are they easy to sex?
 
from what Ive heard its not hard to breed them as long as you meet there specific breeding environment, tank size would depend on how many you're trying to keep, and too sex i would assume when they reach breeding age you would just sex them by picking them up and looking at they're underbelly, if there eggs its a female. that about all i know about crayfish, good luck
 
you could use a 20 gallon long tank with a lot of hiding places and that should prevent them from eating each other. The babies would have a chance to grow then you could feed them to your fish. Thats what i heard to do if you want to breed them. Hopes that help.
 
I was useing a 29 with two different caves so they each had a place to live and hide but they seemed to be hunting each other. It was kinda cool to watch them sneek up on each other.
 
Try marbled crays. They are all self-cloning females and will reproduce at a little over two inches in size. They also tend to leave the babies alone.

I have one mamma marble right now in my planted tank. She berries up and drops a dozen or more babies once a month like clock work. It takes a couple months to grow the babies up, but at least they can all be in the same tank. Of course you will still want to put in a cave for mom (she stays hidden while berried) and some java moss, rocks, wood, or some other cover just to be safe.
 
Red Claw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus). thats what i have and breed. although they can grow to 8" in size but raley. 20gal per adult more hiding places than crays. plenty of o2 circulation. they are teritorial, well sopposed to be any way. my 2 breeding pair dont chase or bother each other any more. my male got picked on by the female, until he was sexualy mature then alls good. my/her 3rd clutch (this year) of eggs are about to hatch in the next day or 2 and have over 100+babies each time.
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